Apparatus for picking hops.



E. 0. HORST. APPARATUS FOR PIGKING HOPS.

- APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1910' 1,054;,1 1 9. Patented Feb.25, 1913.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

E. C. HORST.

APPARATUS FOR PIGKING HOPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY25, 1910.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

7 SEEETSSHEET 2.

soon u o e s u an E. G. HORST.

APPARATUS FOR PIOKING HOPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1910.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

7 SHEETSSHEET 3.

E. G. HORST.

APPARATUS FOR PICKING HOPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1910 1,054, 1 1 9, Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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E. G. HORST.

APPARATUS FOR PIOKING HOPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1910. 1,054, 1 1 9.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

7 SHEETSSHEET 5.

p'fraeaae E. O. HORST.

APPARATUS FOR PIGKING HOPS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1910.

1,054, 1 1 9. v Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

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, 0 0o 0 o e o o o E. C. HORST.

APPARATUS FOR PIGKING HOPS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25, 1910.

Patented Feb. 25, 1913.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 7.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMIL CLEMENS HORST, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

APPARATUS FOR PICKING HOPS.

Specification of Letters Patent. P t t d F 25, 1913 Application filed May 25, 1910. Serial No. 563,420.

ends to the wire or trellis overhead being either broken by pulling on the vines or cut. Prior to my invention hop picking was universally performed by hand. Hand picking, owing to the conditions surrounding the growing of hops, the shortness of the season, scarcity of labor and the like, is very expensive and the best hand picking leaves a large percentage of foreign material in the hops and the necessary sacking, boxing and delay in getting hand picked hops to the dry house often results in the discoloring, bruising and flattening of the hops themselves and entails many objectionable incidents.

I have devised a complete system for mechanically picking hops from the vines andseparating them from the leaves and stems,

with which they are co-mmingled and delivering them to dryers by machinery. I have claimed various parts and mechanisms entering into the construction of such complete automatic apparatus or plant in separate applications for Letters Patent of the United States, the present application illustrating an improvement on the form of picker shown in my application Serial Number 439,112, filed June 18, 1909.

My present invention comprises the combination of various essential elements of a hop picking machine. that is, a machine for separating the hops from the vines, and also various mechanisms combined with said essential elements, whereby the picked hops are cleaned or separated from the leaves and stems and the cleaned hops are delivered to the dryers, all tending to the automatic handling of hops at a low cost and the securing of the product in the best condition possiblefor the market.

To the attainment of these and other desirable results, which "will be hereinafter more particularly described, the method and apparatus which I prefer to employ and the several elements which are comprehended in the scope of this application, either singly or in combination are: First: Means arranged adjacent to the pickers for receiving the hops, said means comprising a receiving platform whereon the vines are delivered directly from the wagons. Second: Endless conveyers traveling around the pickers and extending to the receiving platform and having vine graspers to which the vines are secured. Third: Pickers for removing the hops from the vines, said pickers being mounted upon rotating drums, preferably arranged in two parallel series and each .vine being caused to traverse both series of drums and being completely turned over and reversedin its travel, thereby effecting a complete presentation of all surfaces to the action of the picking drums. Fourth: Means for separating the picked hops from the clusters of hops, the leaves and other extra neous material which is removed from the vines by the pickers, said separators being arranged beneath the pickers so as to receive the hops by gravity therefrom as they are picked, and effect the separation thereof from the leaves and clusters without massing the hops. Fifth: Suitable conveyers for taking the leaves and clusters of hops to a cluster stemming apparatus,- and suitable conveyers for taking the partly cleaned hops to a secondary separating and grading apparatus. Sixth: Secondary separating and grading mechanism comprising preferably a rotating perforated cylinder into the interior of which the partially cleaned hops are passed and through and under which the final separating is effected. Seventh: Means for destemming'any hop clusters that may have been picked and thrown out by first separation and means for further separating the hops thus destemmed from the leaves and trash with which they are commingled. Eighth: Means for elevating the clean hops to thedrying fioors where they are cured and then baled ready for market.

In separate applications I have claimed various novel features of construction .and

some of these instrumentalities are included in a complete apparatus, and it will be understood that while in the present application I have shown a complete apparatus for performing all of the various operations between the wagon-on which the hops are drawn'from the field to the dry house, yet some of these auxiliary mechanisms may be dispensed with and some only of the operations which I have above indicated may be performed 11: a machine, while other operations may be carried out by diflerent apparatus or even by hand. So too, the specific character of some of the mechanism above indicated may be changed without departing from thescope of my present invention, which has to do with the associated mechaperforming the most important of the steps in separating the hops from the vines and cleaning the picked hops. Many of the iiistrumentalities which are included in this present application are novel within themselves, as for example, the arrangement'of the pickers whereb they are made selfcleaning, and other lnstrumentalities whereby the clusters of hops are efiectively broken up so as to bemore readily amenable to the action of the pickers.

- These and other features of the invention will be hereinafter more fully described.

In the accompanying drawings; Figures 1 and 2, read together, represent my improved hop picking machine in side elevation, with the'central portion thereof broken away. Fig. 3 shows at the left, an elevationof the receiving end of the machine with vines entering, and at the right, the cluster stemmer and 'a separating cylinder. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the machine on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, omitting various details. Fig. 5 is a side elevation. Figs. 6 and 7 are transverse sections of the perforated separating cylinder on the lines fi6 and 7 7 of Fig. 5. Figs. 8 and 9 are detail. views-of the picking drum, Fig. 8 being a longitudinal section and Figo9 a transverse section. Fig. 10 is an enlarged fragmentary 'end elevation, showing part of the grilling drum and the drive therefor. Fig. 11 is a side elevation of the drum shown in Fig. 10, the same being mounted for oscillation. Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the picking fingers. Fig. 13 is a detail plan view of the vine grasper and its associate parts, showing the vine grasper member just at the moment of engaging with the automatic release. Fig. 14 50 is a similar. view showing the vine graspers in the released position, and Fig. 15 is a fragment y end elevation of Fig. 13.

It will e understood that, each hop picking .unit comprises a receiving platform, an as endless conveyer including a vine grasper, a series of picking drums and a series of separators arranged beneath the picking drums, with the necessary conveyers for receiving the hops, leaves and clusters and 50 conveying them to the destemming and grading apparatus for taking the cleaned hops to the drying floors and the vines, leaves and other refuse away from the machine. It will be further understood that 65 in large fields, several. ofthese machines nisms and combinations of mechanism for machines.

Since I contemplate the complete auto- .rnatic handling of; the hops from the vine wagons to the dry house, the machines will preferably be located at the dry house and the vines will be brought from the fields on wagons.

Each machine is supported on a suitable frame work or supportinggstructure, 15, which in actual practice is from sixty to eighty feet inlength, ten feet wide and. eighteen feet high. .At the receiving end of each machine is a receiving table or plat'-' form, 16. Extending to each receiving table is an endless carrier composed of a pair of spaced, parallel sprocket chains, 17 18, traveling, over suitable direction sprockets, 19,'- 20, at the receiving end and over large sprockets, 21, at the opposite end. At suit-- able intervals, usually about twelve feet 5 apart, these chains are connected by angle bars, 22, which constitute apart of the vine grasper. These vine graspers, (see Figs. 13, 14 and 15) comprise pivoted members, 23, between the inner ends of which and 196 the leg of theangle bar, the ends of thevines are clamped, the parts being normally held in clamping relation bymeans of coiled springs, 24, and thrust collars, 25. Springs,

'26, acting on the grasping levers outside their pivots, cause them to release the vines when the pressure of the springs, 24, is counteracted by the hinged arms, 27, which are provided with hinged fingers, 28, depending in the path of the collars and held inposition to engage them by the co-unterweighted cables, 29. The pivots, 30, of the hinged arms bein fixed, and the bars, 22, continuously mov ng, the collars will be forced out releasing the graspers, which will then be carried on their pivots, as shown in Fig. 14, releasing thevincs and held open until a new vine is inserted, at which time the arms are manually withdrawn from engagement with the spring pressed collar, 25. The depending fingers, 28, are held against displacement by the squared end of the pivoted rod, 27, and are held against movement until the bar, 22, has carried the rod, 27, to the dotted line position of Fig. 14, when the opposite side of the dependmg finger, 28, will be presented to the bar, 22, and will be allowed to spring outwardly, thus releasing it from the member, whereupon the arms, 27,

will be restored to the position of Fig. 13, I30

by the counterweighted cables, 29, ready,

to engage the collars of the next pair of.

mounted on swinging frames, 33, for a purpose hereinafter described. The vines are thus drawn, butt end first, over the upper series of drums, 31, thence a ound the reversing drum, 34, and back over the lower series of picker drums, 35. Power to drive the carrier is applied to the reversing drum, 34, by the belt, 36. The several picker drums are rotated in a direction opposite to the travel of the vines by means of s rocket chains 37 assin over s rockets. P 7 a c:

38, on the drum shafts, 39.

Each of the main picker drums-is composed preferably of flanged heads, 40, mounted to turn with the shafts, 39, 'and a series of ytransverseslats, 41,- held to the flanges of the drum heads by U clips and. a. series of picker fingers mounted on the slats.

The picker fingers are preferably composedof wire, each. finger having parallel body port-ions, 42, with bent ends, 43, entering openings in the vertical side of the slat and clamped thereto by the bar, 41*, which is also embraced by the clips. The picker fingers are formed as shown in Fig. 12, thus inclosing a V-shaped space open at the rear and closed at the apex, and the adjacent fingers are suitably connected, as by the sleeves, 44. The specific construction of the picking fingers may be varied, and means for guarding the points thereof to prevent them from penetrating or bruising the hops' may be employed. Whatever may be the specific construction of the picker fingers or the material of which they'are composed, it is desirable that they should have the V- shape and be open at their receiving sides so that as the drums conveying them are revolved in one direction, as for example clockwise, the vines moving in the opposite direction over the periphery of the drums, the clusters of hops will depend into the path of the fingers and entering their open sides, will be drawn into their converging portions and stripped from the vines, the latter, as indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 9, due to their length and the mass of leaves thereon being supported by the revolvingsurfaces, while the picking fingers engage the depending clusters and strip them. 'Thepath of the vines being tangential to the path of the finger, this severing is better performed than if the paths were parallel and entanglement of the vines is prevented.

The vines are turned completely over as they pass around the reversing drum, 34, and as they are conducted over the lower set of action of the drums imparts a vibrat0ry-\ movement to the vines, thus causing all of its branches to come into contact with the picking members and prevents the bunching and twisting of the vines. It will also be observed that the two series of drums are so positioned that their fingers are almost in contact, only sufficient space for the passage of the vines intervening and .as the several sets of fingers pass each other tangentially, any hops which maybe carried by branches broken or detached from the main vine will be caught and pulled ofi and any broken vines, clusters of hops or masses of leaves that are caught or entangled in one set of fingers will be removed by the set on the opposite drum passing tangentially thereto, whereby the pickers are made selfwith the fingers on the immediately adjacent lower drums, except as they are held apart by the intermediate vines. The swinging frames, 33. (see Fig. 11) which carry the auxiliary drums, have counterweights, 33, and their shafts carry disks, 33",,which are contacted and raised by the angle bars to allow the vine graspers to pass. These auxiliary drums are preferably run at greater speed than the large drums and are particularly effective owing to that fact and their free or floating'mounting in removing any remaining hops. V

The speed at which the main drums are driven may vary with different kinds of hops and usually the drums near the receiving end are preferably driven at a slower speed than those at the opposite end of the machine, while the auxiliary drums are driven at a much higher speed. The desired speed will be determined by the size of the SPIOCkQtJlStZd.

Passing the last of the drums, the stripped stalks are released by the hinged tripping arms at the point X, Fig. 2, beneath the extension of the carrier. The picked hops and' .the severed leaves and trash, falling from the drums, are received on upwardly traveling separator belts. 45, arranged transhopsrolling down the belt into a conveyer trough, 46, located parallel to the outside of versely beneath the drums, the round, clean falling down the primary separator belts and falling into the conveyer, 46, sometimes contain a small percentage of leaves as the large picking capacity of the drums sometimes overcrowds them. On this account the partially cleaned hops are automatically conveyed to a secondary separatlng and grading apparatus, consisting preferably of a perforated hollow cylinder,48, set on an incline and revolved slowly so as to allow the hops to drop through the perforations while the leaves and stems find their way out of the lower end of the cylinder and are deposited there to be removed later as trash. In practice this perforated cylinder is about eighteen feet long, forty inches in diameter and madeup of a light frame work of timbers twenty feet long, fastened at the lower end to a spider, 49, to which is afiixed the shaft, 50, which acts as one point of support for the cylinder frame and by which the cylinder/is rotated. About six feet from the upper end of the cylinder, its timbers are held in place by a suitable ring, which at the same time acts as a cylindrical guard upon which the screen frame is revolved; two idler pulleys or roller bearers, 52, being placed under the ring and these act as bearings for the revolving screen. The walls of the cylinder are composed of perforated sheet metal plates, the upper one-third having perforations of i} of an inch to one inch. the second 11- inch perforations and the lower third to 1-1; inch perforations. This leaves about two feet at the lower end of the screen frame work entirely open, this space being necessary to allow the leaves and trash to fall out of the cylinder. The per forations above mentioned must be changed as to size according to the kind of hops to be handled. the above sizes being given as an illustration. The screen is revolved at suitable speed varying with the kind of hops and percentage of leaves but usually about forty to sixty revolutions per minute. The

partially cleaned hops from the primary separators. are conveyed into the upper end of the cylinder in a steady stream and as the perforated cylinder slowly revolves, the smaller hops and any hop petals there may be, practically all fall through the first six feet of the perforations. and as these hops are absolutely clean and free-from leaves,

they are diverted into a clean hop conveyer by means of a chute of any suitable construction. Separator belts, similar to those placed under the picking machine, are placed directly under the remaining portions of the revolving perforated cylinder to receive the hops as they fall through the perfor: tions andremove any leaves that might have been carried along this far in the process. These last mentioned traveling separators may be dispensed with but are preferably employed in case of heavy picking, The action of the separators is the same as that charged at the lower end onto a conveyer oraccumulate to be removed at intervals. The action of the perforated cylinder, with its various set-s of perforations in suclr that if desired, the hops'can be graded as to size, and the chute taking the hops falling through the perforations can be diverted in any direction. and the setting of the up 'ardly traveling belt separators, may be so arranged as to discharge the cleaned hops at either side so that this apparatus may be used as a hop grader as well as a hop separator. The hops, after passing through the perforated cylinder and down the separators underneath same, are now absolutely clean and in condition to be conveyed to the drying kilns.

The hop clusters and leaves discharged over the top of the separator belts which are placed immediately under the hop picking machine are conveyed into a cluster stemming apparatus, which is fully described in the separator application of George E. Miller. The portion of this device is indicated in Fig. 3, and itcomprises two conical drums concentrically disposed so to provide a passage way between them. each of the drums being provided with picker teeth which break up the clusters and release the hops from the stems. The clusters are fed by gravity into the interspace and rotary motion is imparted to one or both of the drums. The cluster stemmer handles both' the hop clusters from the machine and also any clusters or small branches that may have been broken in handling from the wagons or in loading vines 'into the machine. The hops, after having been destemmed, are discharged around the base of the two conical drums, then by means of a funnel like hopper are deposited upon a rising conveyer to be discharged into a set of secondary separating apparatus which may be a duplicate of the perforated cvlinder separator previously described. This perforated cylinder removes the last of the hops'from the leaves and trash and the clean hops are automatically conveyed from the separating belts below the second separator to the clean hop convcyer which delivers them to the drying apparatus, where they are cured, later to be baled for market.

While-some of the specific mechanisms hereiuahove described are not novel per se, and others of them are not of my invention, I believe myself to be the first to organize and associate the several instrumentalities as a whole and in their various combinations, all to the end and purpose of mechanically picking and cleaning hops, thus dispensing with all of the most laborious and expensive parts of hand labor heretofore employed, and also securinga better quality of product. The result achieved, when considered in its entirety, is obviously important and since I believe such result to be wholly new, I do not wish to limit my claims to the exact structural means eniployed, but desire to cover not only the specific means, which I have shown and which are the best known to me, but also by the broader claims hereinafter made, any equivalent means. I also wish to be understood that some of the instrumentalities which I have described are not essential to the performance of the work of picking hops mechanically and may not only be substituted by other or equivalent means or may be omitted. For example, the rough picking of hops may be accomplished by the employment only of the pickers and the earrier, while relatively'eleairpicking may be attained by the use of the preliminary separators' alone. To the attainment of greater perfection, the auxiliary devices, such as the movable picker drums, the cylindrical separator and the cluster stemmer are useful and obviously the vine grasper and system of conveyers increase the capacity and lower the cost. It is obvious also that some of the instrumentalities herein described might.be substituted by others on a'specifically different construction and yet cooperate in the same general combinati on. As for example, I have shown the pickers mounted on revolving drums, but obviously, the pickers might be stationary and instead of drums the several picker mechanisms might be mounted in the same plane, the bars presented to the vines at any given time by the series of drums indicating the position of said stationary pickers. The revolving pickers are present because in their rotation, they act 'tengentially to the mass of moving Vines and they also, byt-heir rotation, clean themselves.

I claim:

1. In a hop picker, two series of rotating pickers, in combination with means for moving the vines over said series consecutively and means for inverting the vines at an irterme'diate stage of the operation, substantially as described.

2. In a hop picker, the combination of upper and lower series of revolving pickers, of a vine carrier adapted to carry the vines first over the upper series of pickers and thenceover the lower series of pickers, the

carrier being adapted to reverse the direction of travel of the vines and also to in vert them as to position intermediate said series. substantially as described.

3. In a hop picker, the combination vwith upper and lower picker drums arranged in proximity to each other and rotating in opposite directions, of an endless vine carrier adapted to move the vines over theupper surfaces of the upper series of drums, and then between the drumsof the said two series, the travel of the vines being in a direction opposite to the direction ofmovement of the drums over which they are traveling, substantially as described.

4. In a hop picker, the combination with a picker drums, of one or more auxiliary drums mounted 1n proximity to 'the first mentioned pickers and adapted to move toseries of stationarily positioned rotary ward and from the path of movement of the vines and adjacent pickers, substantially as described.

5. In a hop picker, the combination of two series of rotating pickers arranged parallel to eachother and separated at their continuous surfaces to permit the passage of the vines .therebetween, the pickers of the one series being rotated in a direction 0pposite to that of the other series and a vine carrier adapted to move the vines between the two series of rotating pickers and in a 7 In a hop picker, the combination of a.

series of rotatable drums, picker fingers on the peripheries of said drums, and means for passing a vine over said drums in a. direction opposite to that of the peripheral travel of the drums, said picker fingers being of substantially V-shape, the inner point of the V being rounded whereby to engage and remove hops but not to remove leaves, substantially as described.

8. In a hop picking machine, the combination of a series of rotatable drums. picker fingers mounted on said drums, said fingers being of substantially \l-shape, the inner point of the V-being rounded whereby to engage and remove. hops but not to remove leaves, means for passing a hop vine over said drums, and means for shifting said hop vine whereby all parts thereof are exposed to the action of the picker fingers, substantially as described.

9., In a hop picking machine, the combinaadapted to engage and move a hop vine over a League tion of a series of rotatable drums, picker skeleton picker fingers, means for passing a fingers mounted on said drums, said fingers l hop vine directly over said skeleton fingers, being of substantially V-shape, the inner I said fingers being of substantially V-shape, point of the V being rounded whereby to l the inner point of the V being rounded engage and remove hops and have substanwhereby to pass through the foliage of a tially no efiect on foliage, and a carrier vine and remove only the hops therefrom,

d d d t t h f 'substantiaHy as described. sa1 rums 1n a irec ion opposi e to t at o g y the peripheral travel of the drums, substan- EMIL CLEMENS HORST tially as described. 1

10.110 a hop picking machine, the combination of a series of rotatable drums having l l/Vitnesses:

T. D. BUTLER, MnrronN. MILLER. 

